Portable Clothes Washer (Manual Non-Electric Portable Washing Machine for Camping, Apartments, RV’s, Delicates) (Blue & White) (Made in the USA)

We first caught wind of this a while back when it was only $120 or even $99 I think, I may be wrong about the $99 price tag but it has been in the "saved for later" list for a while to see it go in and even longer out of stock many times.We have been looking to add a manual of some sorts washing machine to our stock for quite some time now, moreso because we live up 2 flights of stairs in a community just to make our lives a bit easier but something like this is great to always have on hand for anything, more than just power outtages. Its also a great addition to our camping/survival gear.The unit itself is very big indeed (but also extremely light for the size and heavy duty at the same time) being able to hold more than 5 gallons of water. To that point; they say to fill it with 5 gallons. However, we tried that with a medium load and felt like we needed more (this may be a personal preference but it seemed to help more) so we filled it a little over the recommended 2/3 with plenty of room to spare still. We also used it in our bathtub with ease.I asked a question on here as to if we can take the clothes out of the basket and put them in the bottom of the wash basin, then push down on the clothes with the empty basket to help ring them out before hanging before we purchased and it yeilded no definitive answer.I can tell you firsthand now that yes, not only can you do that but the directions that come with it instruct you to do so if desired.While we have only used it a couple of times now it has by far met our needs for what we need (both home and abroad). It is quite big so it may be difficult to transport along with any other camping or other gear of sorts if you dont have a larger vehicle, but it is almost, if not a full size washing machine basin. Again what we were looking for.Its large, very heavy duty polymer material, has a pin to lock on the lid even though it locks tight as is, long thick ergonomical handle, option to squeeze ring clothes, drain at the bottom to easily swap water dirty for clean water without tipping the whole thing over and it holds quite a bit of clothes. You can even order an adapter kit with 4 pieces for only $25. This kit includes a 4 and 10' hose, a shut off valve and faucet adapter I think.Overall we are quite pleased with this product and know it will last a lifetime. Now why the old school clothes ringers that have two long rods that you hand crank clothes through to ring dry before hanging is dam near $200 on average confuzzles me....

My portable electric washer broke and I replaced it with the lavario. There is of course a learning curve. The instructions state to leave the clothing soak for five minutes, but I found that 5 minutes was not long enough to remove stains, food or underarm deoderant residue from the clothing. If I soak heavily stained items in warm to hot water for 30 to 60 minutes, the clothes come out clean. for items with no stains, a 10 to 15 minute soak works great. I only use warm to hot water, If you use cold water only, I would recommend soaking the clothing for at least an hour. lifting the basket up and down 30 times for each load of laundry can be difficult, to save your shoulders, push the basket down and let it float back up naturally, pushing it down takes no strength at all, pulling the basket up, is a true bicep workout. Lastly, get an electric spin dryer, the lavario says to empty the bucket, put the clothing in the bottom and push down on the basket to drain water, no matter how hard you push, the clothing will still be soaking wet. I like this washer because it will never break, its quiet, easy to use and works well.

This definitely cleans clothes and it works really well versus other options I've tested, but a few missteps make me think it doesn't deserve the 5 star rating everyone else is giving it. Also, before you purchase, I recommend looking at the manual online. It's posted to their website and gives a few more details that might help you decide if this device is right for you.Pros:* Worked great on exceedingly bad smelling clothes and sweaty workout clothes, just okay with a bath towel with a persistent mildew smell.* Lightweight, low difficulty, and good output. Durable construction.Cons:* Difficult to dry - Clothes are soaked with water no matter what you do (as other reviewers have pointed out) even as the documentation suggests you can press out the water under the basket once finished. The best I've been able to do is leave them in the bathroom on a drying rack with a high fan on them overnight. Even twist-drying them doesn't help.* You cannot remove the handle. In fact, there's a big warning at the beginning of the manual saying you could break the handle if you try. This is problematic both because it would be SO much easier to store the thing with the handle removed, but also because if you need to return the device, removing the handle is going to break it. I didn't see anything on this when I was researching this purchase. Note that there is actually a way to do this with a flathead screwdriver and some patience, but I wouldn't bother.* Soap - No suggestion on how much soap to use or how to run multiple cycles with one bucket of soapy water. I've tried to detail some suggestions below, but that seems like a big missing piece.Suggestions for use:* Bathtub: The bin holds a lot of water that might cause problems if knocked over, so doing this whole process in a bathtub might be ideal, especially in an apartment.* Soaking - If you have time, soak clothes for 4-8 hours (overnight). Note that earth-friendly soaps will start to smell bad after ~14 hours, since the whole point of earth-friendly soaps is that they break down once they get out to the sewers. Clothes get a lot cleaner this way and you break down a lot of stubborn smells / stains. You can use this in concert with half a cup of bleach, vinegar, or baking soda (see warning about bleach below).* Bleach: This is covered in the manual, but due to some splashing with this device, use caution with bleach, including eye protection and gentle cycling. I'd recommend normal bleach (sometimes listed as "color safe") and not chlorine bleach.* Soap use: I used the following to good effect: earth-friendly HE soap, 1/2 of the first "small load" marker.* Multi-cycle: The instructions only discuss a single cycle followed by a rinse, but you can save a LOT of water and soap by re-using the same soapy water multiple times to wash lots of clothes. After your first load, take out the wet+soapy clothes, set them aside in a bucket or bathtub, and add a little more water+soap each time to make sure that it covers the basket. I've done this a dozen times with no issue, and on two occasions reusing the soapy water 3x.* Bucket: I'd recommend having a spare one on hand for adding water, holding clothes inbetween cycles, etc. It's just very helpful* Draining: You can lift the bucket out of the water and rotate it a little so that it sits above the water to ease the process of draining. After that, you can empty clothes into the bottom of the bucket and press down with the empty basket to help get more water out. If you already have a method to wring clothes, you might skip this step.* Do what the instructions say x2 - Out of an abundance of caution, I double the recommended lift-push and cycles just because I don't want to mess about with the slow process of drying still-dirty / smelly clothes.Issues* Floating basket: if the basket rises to the top of the water, take off the lid and press down on all the clothes to get all the air out. Or put a bucket on top and add something heavy to create a counterweight.* Persistent mildew smell: For clothes with a mildew smell, you might want to soak longer and go through more lift-and-drop cycles. I also like adding baking soda (add to a full container of water before any clothes). I did roughly 20 minutes and 20 lift-and-push down cycles and that was effective.